Marion Marlowe on the Prairie, or, A Thrilling Ride Across Kansas — page 20: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

18 MY QUEEN. train jolting over something by and by, Mar- ion, you will know it is my body which I have flung from the cab! I simply cannot endure life, now that I know how you regard me !”’ “Oh, Bert! you are just too silly for any- thing!’ laughed his sweetheart. Then she slipped her hand into into his in a coaxing manner. “Take me with you, Bert! I do so want to ride on the engine! I suppose, though, we can't get up there until we stop at the next station.” | - “Tf you wish it, I will go, too,” said Mar- ion, quickly; “but I think I will like it better when we are out on the prairie! I want to run like mad through that ‘boundless vast- ness’ that Alma is always talking about. I do not wish to see a house, rock or tree when | I am riding on the engine! I want to feel that I am just flying through space, without hindrance or resistance!” “You'll feel that way, all right, for this is a very fast train,’ said Mr. Temple, leaning over. “They tell me also that there is con- siderable boodle aboard; but that does not in- terest me half as much as the culinary depart- ment at this minute, so I’m going to hold a conference with the waiter, if you will excuse me.” He walked down the aisle as he spoke, and Bert rose and followed him. <A minute later Bob Hinton, the calcium man; Mr. Deering, the stage manager, and Orrin Olcott went into the smoker, which left no one but a “supe,” Dr. Brookes and Ajax with the laches. Marion and Alma got out books and began tu read, while both Jackets and little Ruby fell asleep on the laps of their mothers. The train was bounding along and Miss Ellis was staring at the scenery. At the very first station Bert came in and got her, and both went out upon the platform and climbed up into the engine. The fact that Bert's father was a railroad director had worked like a charm with the engineer. “We have corralled one passenger,” re- marked Dr. Brookes, as the train pulled out. He glanced over his shoulder as he spoke and took a sharp glance at the new passenger ; then he took a second look, but he did not allow what was passing in his mind to show upon his features. The one passenger who had boaedel the train was a coarse-looking fellow, and he recognized him almost instantly as the fellow he had seeri Ajax making signs to in the the- atre at Topeka. A moment later Mr. flashed into his mind. “There was lots of boodle on the train,” and it was in the express compartment. He had seen the messenger guarding his quar- ters with the alertness of a watchdog. He rose from his seat and sauntered down toward the end of the car in which the new- comer was seated, but the fellow was reading a paper and did not even glance at him. What should he do? The question café into his mind, and, as Temple’s words he strolled through the train, he _tried to an- swer it wisely. Not .a person in the car suspected anything wrong, apparently, and he began asking him- self why he should entertain such suspicions. The signaling in the theatre may have been a mere matter of friendship. Still, since the new passenger entered the car, they had not even looked at each other. He stopped in one of the vestibules and gazed out on the landscape. It was a wild country now, and the day was mild and spring-like. He had never been in Kansas, and he was delighted with the experience. As he stood leaning against the rail he almost forgot his suspicions of Ajax. Suddenly a heavy hand was laid on his shoulder, and he turned to find the “cowboy” _ standing close behind him. “What in the world is the matter?” he asked, involuntarily, as he saw the look in the fellow’s eyes, and, at the same time, he moved back to a safer position. The answer astonished him so that he could hardly speak for a minute, It was the last thing in the world that he would have expected from. Ajax. ‘“'Ther’s curus things in this hyar world, ain't ther, now?” said the fellow, almost sol- emnly. “An’ ther curressest thing of all iz er purty woman. Ef er woman iz purty she kin jes undo er man. kumpletely oy ber Aint HO.